Chevron Planning Bangladesh Expansion

Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, is planning a major expansion in Bangladesh after the country's state-controlled oil producer, Petrobangla, asked the U.S. oil giant to boost natural gas production at three fields by 1 billion cubic feet per day by 2012.

Chevron (CVX) plans to drill 16 development and two exploratory wells at the Jalalabad, Moulvibazar and Bibiyana gas fields in Bangladesh over the next year, according to Upstream Online. Bangladesh, formerly part of Pakistan, is looking to boost its gas production to nearly 3 billion cubic feet per day.

Chevron has submitted a $350 million plan to boost gas production to Petrobangla, Upstream Online reported. Chevron currently produces more than 900 million cubic feet of natural gas per day at the three fields, output that is equivalent to half of Bangladesh's daily gas production.

Chevron is thought to have told Petrobangla, which manages the nation's oil and gas production sharing contracts, that Bibiyana's reserves have jumped from 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas to 6.6 trillion cubic feet, according to Upstream Online.